Today I went to a lunch and learn at Scene 75 which is a brand new entertainment venue in the Dayton market. Jona Sandler shared with about 35 business owners about his activities on Facebook and what he felt was working for him.

20,000+ Likes before the venue even opened

“I’m not a Facebook expert and I don’t work for Facebook”, Jonah started his presentation. “I just sharing what has worked for me.” And part of that was being willing to share the journey of how Scene 75 has come together and the struggles and hiccups that have occurred along the way until its recent opening. With over 20,000 people engaged on Facebook their very first day, prior to their official announced opening day, Jonah posted on Facebook, “We’re open”. The only way people would have known they were open was through Facebook and people started arriving by the car loads. Many would stop and say hi to Jonah and mention the Scene 75 Facebook page.

Engaged Facebook Fans

Jonah went on to explain that when he goes out in public wearing his Scene 75 shirt, people stop and ask him about how the venue is doing. They also say, “I feel like I know you personally” as a result of the depth of sharing on his Facebook Page. “I didn’t get that from newspaper articles or TV stories about the venue, this is from Facebook alone”, he explained. And because of the story, the belief in Dayton, and his Facebook following they are having very good traffic. He showed us two pictures showing Saturdays when they reached full capacity (1300 people) and the line outside waiting to get in. Each time some left, they could let more people in when they are at full capacity.

Paid advertising

Being able to reach his engaged audience whenever he chooses is one thing that other forms of advertising do not have. And much of that interaction costs nothing, however, just to be clear, Scene 75 is spending a significant amount of money through the advertising options on Facebook. The message is targeted to their prime market demographic and geography. In his presentation to us, he explained the various options available for paid advertising on Facebook and his experiences with each. He explained some of the campaigns they had run (each on is an experiment) and the resulting LIKES that were generated along with the number of engaged fans (those commenting). Oh, and one more investment was mentioned, a heavy time commitment.

Thank you Jonah for an informative and interesting presentation.

I will add some photographs from the Lunch an Learn as soon as I can get them transferred.

What does it take to be far above “it’s good enough”?

What do you do to demonstrate to your prospects that you are FAR ABOVE “it’s good enough”? This week I spent the entire day at a photography workshop. Along with being a full-time senior advertising consultant for REACH Magazine in Dayton and Cincinnati, I have a small part-time photography business. Photography has been a lifelong love in my life and each day I learn something new and grow. At this professional photographers workshop the presenter said, Everyone and his mother and everyone who buys a sophisticated digital camera thinks they are a photographer and consumers are being trained to accept photography that is “good enough” because it’s free. As professionals we have to demonstrate that our work is FAR ABOVE “it’s good enough” so that people will be willing to pay for professional photography.

Are you “good enough” or FAR ABOVE “good enough”?

There are a couple of ways that I wanted to go with this. The first thing is that there are people within your industry that are buying your goods or services from a low-cost vendor because “it’s good enough”. Are you providing goods and services that are FAR ABOVE “good enough” so that your prospects can easily see that it would be worthwhile to spend a little more to buy from you. If you are just providing “good enough” products or services, then there will always be someone who costs less than you that your prospects can buy from. Are you investing in your abilities by attending seminars and workshops that will help you to excel in your business or that will help you improve your product?

Example of FAR ABOVE

I have clients that have been with me for years advertising in REACH magazine. From time to time, they make mistakes in their marketing. As a FAR ABOVE advertising consultant, I do my best to help them not make those mistakes. In fact I insist and bend over backwards to help them to do what is best for them. In a recent mailing one of my larger clients hired out a creative agency to create their ad for a special event at their new location. They wanted examples of current ads and I spent some time explaining the importance of incentive offers in REACH Magazine (Consumers look at the coupons first – if the coupons do not capture their attention they move on to the next ad). I also explained that I would like them to send me a rough draft copy of what they working on so that I could give my input before the ad was completely finalized. They were open to this (some are not and could care less about input from an outside source).

When the rough draft arrived, there were problems. The draft arrived the day of our closing deadline, but since there were problems I was willing to bend over backwards to get them the time to make corrections. The problem was that the ad was all directed at this one day special event.

Here is how I explained the problem to the creative agency. If you do a great job getting people to this special event… lets say 300 people come to the event, how many people will be in their homes looking at this ad with NO REASON TO CALL? In this particular case, 399,700 homes would have an ad with no reason to call. It was imperative to have incentive offers for the people who would not be attending the event so they too would have a reason to call. With only hours to get the job done, this creative agency reworked the ad to include some of the offers that make the phone ring for this client.

They sent me the final ad and it looked great and reflected many of the changes that I had suggested. It is a WIN-WIN-WIN. The creative agency has avoided a major mistake and did a great job for my client. I protected both the creative agency and my client from spending a lot of money on an ad that would not have performed well. And hopefully both the creative agency and my client will appreciate me more for being willing to provide FAR ABOVE service to them.

Do you LOOK like you provide FAR ABOVE products and services?

Every day I see business people who are using “good enough” photos of themselves in their business social networking venues. What does your Linked-In profile picture say about you? Does it say I found a snap shot on my computer that is “good enough” to represent me to businesses that I connect with on Linked-In? Is it a professional image that is too formal and makes you seem stiff and not fun to work with. Or is it something that communicates good things about you so that people seeing it will want to connect with you?

If I tell you your profile image is not doing your any favors

In my interactions with people who I network with, I don’t hold back when I see profiles that are not doing that person any favors for their business. In fact I have told more than one person that their profile image is not doing them any favors in their networking efforts. In some cases, they ask why and I end up doing what I call a casual professional portrait sessions for social networking. The images are relaxed and honest to who the person is, but they are FAR ABOVE the snapshot they found from their vacation last year and they do not have the stiff formal feel that some people end up with when they just go have a portrait made. My goal is to capture images of you which will help others feel good about what those portraits say about you.

I saw a comment on Facebook that blogging is dead. That’s funny because basically Facebook is your personal blog, but that is beside the point. If you want to be found on the internet through searches you must have constant fresh content on your website.

The best way to keep your content fresh

The best way to add content to your web site is to have an integrated blog within your web site. What is the best way to do that? You convert your web site into a template driven self hosted WordPress Blog web site. Through the dashboard you can quickly add content as frequently as you wish, AND although people may not follow your blog on a daily basis, each bit of new content becomes search fodder for Google. It seems that the new name for a blog is a “content management system.”

The long tail of the internet

You can blog about new products and services offered, happy clients, the names of the neighborhoods you are working in, and so on. When they put your service category and their neighborhood in Google, guess what, YOUR WEB SITE COMES UP in the search. This is called the long tail of the internet and WordPress (self hosted) is about the bet you can get for this.

So Blog ON because your content is more current & becomes search engine fodder

But, don’t BORE THE CRAP out of people!

Here is a post from Copyblogger about how to keep from boring people to death. Hey, I know, sometimes I bore you to death talking about REACH Magazine in Dayton, but at least I am trying to do better by reading posts like this one:

Have you thought of doing video for your business, but it cost too much?

Today I heard a little bit more about Chris Celek’s new offering called Awesome Business Video. Chris is a friend from various networking groups and I have also recommended him to several of my REACH Magazine clients. For my clients that want to connect with their customers through social media like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterist, and more, Chris stays in tune with what the latest is so that the business owner can sync what they say and do online with their sales and promotional efforts. For many businesses trying to keep up with all that can be difficult to do. Keeping up to speed on the knowledge needed and actually doing it is what Chris helps businesses with.

New offering by Celek Media consulting brings professional AND inexpensive video to small businesses throughout the county

One frustration for many businesses has been that although they have heard that video gets more attention on the internet than any other form of interaction, it has been cost prohibitive for many businesses. With this new offering businesses can create “awesome business videos” at a very low-cost and capture more attention through their web sites, Facebook pages, and everything else they do with consumers.

Check it out and consider this for your business

Actually with REACH magazine we are now including QR codes on some ads. A QR code is something that you can read with your smart phone with a QR code reader. By having the QR code go directly to a web hosted video you can basically make what used to be a flat piece of paper into a multi-media experience.

This is a short quick article about QR Code Marketing that I found on Mashable. Just click on the link below:

One bad example on TV

One of my networking friends told me about a TV commercial that had a QR code as part of the commercial. The problem was that you would have to be a quick draw with your phone and be holding your phone ready focused on the screen as the QR code was only on screen for 5-6 seconds. Obviously if your phone was lying on the table in front of you you would not have time to pick it up, find the QR code scanning APP and scan the code (scanning itself usually takes 5-10 seconds) and see what was on the code. In all likelihood it would take the entire 5-6 seconds just to pick up your phone. This is not an example of an effective QR code implementation in marketing.

Local Examples of good implementations

I liked what she had to say about putting the QR Code everywhere. When I stopped by Michael’s Salon at Cross Pointe Centre the other day there were QR codes on their windows, near some displays, and on their business cards. Of course REACH Magazine is also a prime place to put well thought out QR Code marketing. In the upcoming September 2011 REACH Magazine here in Dayton, Ohio, check out several ads with QR Codes. Check out the one on Granite Transformations and also Papa Johns Pizza to see effective buy completely different usage of the QR Code. Also check out American Carpet Masters.

QR Code ideas for the Holidays

QR Codes would be perfect in our Holiday Gift Guide in the December issue of REACH magazine. Logo, web site, QR Code linked to a video clip walk through of a small boutique gift shop would work great. Or perhaps link it to your TV commercial online or a mobile friendly page with additional photographs of some popular products. Of course QR code usage is growing, but it is still small here in Dayton, Ohio. But now is the time to be experimenting and perfecting your usage. Just like the other things on the internet, early adopters can have the advantage when things get going.

Who scans QR Codes?

By Christmas 2011 more than 50% of all cell phones in use will be smart phones. Smart phone usage by young adults is very high and younger kids hardly know what the yellow pages are. They can search and research on the web as they walk into Starbuck’s and show the cashier their Starbuck’s membership on the screen of their cell phone, then sign in at Foursquare and tell all their friends where they are after posting to Facebook.

Embrace Technology and stay current as a business owner

Over a year ago I decided that I would “embrace technology” to be able to help my advertising clients to stay current. I participate in Dayton’s NEW MEDIA group which has a LinkedIn group and meets with speakers on timely topics each month. I now have people I recommend for social media consultations and web sites. My clients don’t just learn about REACH Magazine, Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine, but they learn about how everything can work together to help them get seen here in the Dayton market. If a small business in Dayton does not have a web presence, they are far behind and need to catch up. I can help with that.

Owners us CALL TRACKING to determine value of advertising expenditures

David and Laurie Malseed have now been in REACH magazine for a couple of months. These young business owners are using today’s technology to measure the effectiveness of their advertising by using CALL TRACKING phone numbers in the various places they invest in advertising. By going to their login for their tracking numbers they can see each month exactly how many calls originate from each advertising source.

Coupon and Ad in REACH Magazine brings in highly qualified leads

When they investigated the results from their first month in REACH they found that they were closing on about 70% of the calls they were receiving. David gave me some details which I am not at liberty to share here, but based on what he said REACH has been a home run for their business coming right out of the gate. They were even receiving calls from people who were planning to make a local move later in the summer and based on the interactions I have had with them, I am sure those calls will also become customers. David has a tight ship with pleasant and quick phone answering and personal and informative support for their clients.

Zoned mailing helps prevent wasted advertising dollars

In addition since they have a franchise limited territory (there is a Two Men and a Truck franchise that works the south half of the Dayton market) we were able to target only areas in the north half of dayton using our zones. They were able to target Troy, Tipp City, Huber Heights, Vandalia, Englewood, Brookville, Springfield and all the communities in between by selecting only the zones that are geographically closer to their location.

Here is what Laurie had to say in a more general light about REACH magazine and my interactions with them as they moved from hopeful anticipation to very satisfied advertiser:

“Our ad in REACH magazine paid for itself the first day it was available to the public! Our dealings with REACH have been quick and efficient. We would definitely recommend REACH over the other magazines.

Thanks Peter!”

I was sorry that I was not able to make it to their official grand opening a few weeks ago.

Company builds relationships online using web site and facebook page

If you live in the north half of Dayton and surrounding communities and you are planning a local move, I would highly recommend these folks. They really care about everyone they meet and they will do an excellent job for you.

To find out more about REACH magazine please give me a call about scheduling a business consultation. As I told David and Laurie, my goal is to develop long lasting business relationships, not to just sell ad space. I have over 20 years experience in incentive marketing and working with small to medium sized businesses who are trying to reach consumers. My consultation covers many aspects of your business to insure that REACH is a right fit for you and that you will grow your business with Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine.

As I tell people about REACH magazine and our new eREACH Big DEAL, many times I talk to businesses about Facebook and WordPress web sites too. Today from a social networking newsletter called MASHABLE, I found this article that I thought could be helpful to you:

Lately, as I have been presenting REACH Magazine and The Big Deal to clients and prospects, we have been talking about things like promoting their business on Facebook. Facebook is a great place to promote your business and create a personal/business presence on the web. It is very easy to get hooked into spending more time than you would like on Facebook, so as a business person you might want to set a miminum and maximum time you want to spend there each day. Ask around and you will find almost everyone you know is on facebook. It is very popular and has participation much greater than Twitter and LinkedIn. Just google “facebook growth” and see how fast it continues to grow.

There is no question that every business person should have a facebook personal page and a facebook business page. As you add people to your personal list, you can keep them on lists such as PERSONAL FRIENDS, RELATIVES, OLD SCHOOL BUDDIES, BUSINESS PEOPLE, ETC. But, NO, people do not want to know about “everything” you do. Share things that make you a real person or express something about you so that other can get to know you better, not things like, “I just brushed my teeth.” At the same time realize this. People buy from PEOPLE and letting people get to know you and what you are doing from time to time can help break the ice for you to make some important connections from places and people you would never have thought of.

You then can create a business page as well. These PAGES are sometimes called a FAN PAGE because people who join that page click on a button that says, “become a fan”. This is where you can put your business description, location, hours, and etc. And this is where you can openly promote your business. People who become fans of your business like your business and may be recommending your business to their friends. When they become a fan of your business this is noted on their personal “Wall” and your fan page is listed on their info page as a business they are a fan of.

When you join up with Facebook, there is small print about what you can and cannot do. Do NOT set up a personal page for your business. You can create a “group” or a “fan page” for your business, but you have to have personal page first. However if you put your business logo on your personal page and start having sales and promotions there you could get REMOVED from Facebook. This is considered spamming and although you will see this from time to time, sooner or later people doing this from their personal facebook pages will be banned.